I felt the car stop. Opening my eyes, I saw Clay had parked.
"Okay Sleepyhead," he smiled at me. "We're here."
I yawned and reached out for the door handle, "I'm not sleepy."
He laughed, "You could barely keep yourself awake while I was driving here."
"I just need coffee," I grunted. My hand pushed open the door, and the cool LA air rushed around me.
"Well, we'll stop and get you something before we meet up with the group."
"What are we doing with them again?" My mind felt cloudy.
We both shut our doors, and he locked the car with one beep from the keys. Once he had walked over to me, I latched onto his extended arm.
"We're going to walk around town a bit and then grab dinner," he explained.
"Oh," I started to remember.
We made it out of the lot and onto the sidewalk. Clay took out his phone as we continued to stroll down the boulevard. He plotted walking directions to the nearest coffee house. I let him lead the way.
It was Saturday night, so the roads and shops were bustling with people, eager to enjoy themselves. The lights seemed extra bright as we arrived at our destination. As soon as we opened the doors, it seemed we were ordering, and then I was sitting down, holding a vanilla iced coffee with milk. I sipped my drink contently as Clay watched me fondly, begining to feel more awake. I wasn't as sensitive when Clay suggested we go.
I was wearing a black cocktail dress, and my hair beautifully curled was pulled into a loose updo. I wore natural-looking makeup and plain tan-colored flats. He gave me a hand, and I stood up.
"You're pretty quiet," he observed.
It was true. For some reason, instead of being my talkative, outgoing self, I had resorted to being an introvert today.
He kissed me on the forehead and wrapped his arms around me. I snuggled into his chest, still silent, enjoying the moment. He took my hand, and we headed in a different direction. When his phone buzzed, he pulled it out and read the notification on the screen.
"Sapnap and George want to skip the shopping and just head to the restaurant. Bad is in. Is that okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm pretty hungry anyway."
"Cool," Clay smiled. He looked back down to type the message.
We continued to walk to the restaurant.
When we finally got there, George, Sapnap, and Bad were waiting on small couches laughing.
"Hey!" Sapnap greeted us when he saw us. "Dream, Y/n."
"Hey," both Clay and I said at the same time.
"Darryl? Party of 5?" a server called out.
"Perfect timing," Bad approved. We were led to a circular table with menus and napkins rolled up with silverware. We took our seats and were asked what we wanted to drink. Bad and George both got cocktails and Sapnap requested a bloody mary. When it came time for me to order, I told the waitress I wanted some red wine. Clay ordered the same thing.
***
Long after many refills, our food came. I dug into my pasta and grinned when Clay laughed at me for trying to wolf everything down so fast.
"Don't choke," he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes and pretended to grasp at my throat, cross-eyed.
